My forum for sharing creative activities, in fabric arts, needlework, gardening, photography, and living, with the creative community.
"Changelessness is a sign of death; Transformation a sign of life."

365+/- Photos in 2010

July 26 Dooryard Patio Tablescape

About Me

I'm retired from administration of low income housing programs in public and non profit areas, mostly for seniors.
Wife, mother of 9, grandmother of 17, greatgrandmother of 5.
Servant of 2 very spoiled, gorgeous Siamese Lynx Point neutered male cats and waitress to the local alley cats.
Blessed to have my mother, who is 88, in an assisted living home nearby.
Assist in my husband's refrigeration and appliance repair business by keeping the books.
My Christian religion is my purpose, strength and comfort.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Please pray for the people of Holly, Colorado who were devastated by a tornado on Wednesday night. Holly is near the Kansas border, just about 130 miles down Highway 50 and the Arkansas River from us. I know the community well.

We had terrible winds that day, but couldn't believe the news that a tornado had done so much damage to our neighbors. These people had come through the damaging blizzards this winter and now have to overcome this tragedy. But you have to be tough to live on the plains of eastern Colorado and they immediately started comforting each other and cleaning up the mess. Emergency volunteers from Kansas and Colorado showed up to help them and the Governor flew down to give them his support. This small agricultural community is the home of former Governor Roy Romer.

News coverage of the tornado is available from The Pueblo Chieftain online . The same storm spawned 65 tornados through Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, and caused 4 deaths in addition to blizzards in Wyoming.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I am so happy that I actually have work in progress now that Mom is cared for. I've been cleaning in the garden yesterday and today and here is the happy surprise that was waiting for me under some of last years dead growth; my miniature daffodils are actually blooming. I love daffodils for their brilliant yellow trumpets after a dark straw colored few months. The tiny blue scillas have also popped up through the dry grass at the corner of the house, but I didn't get photos of them.

Ditto, our small toothless lynx point Siamese mix cat, came out with me yesterday and discovered the new shoots of catnip under their metal cage. If I don't cage the catnip, all the neighborhood cats roll in it and eat it down to the ground. I figure that they are welcome to whatever shoots eventually stick out through the cage, but I refuse to allow them to kill it.

Here is a teaser of my March 12 x 12 which is my evening project. It is getting closer to completion and I don't want to ruin the surprise by showing more than this. I am pleased that it is beginning to come up to the image I've carried in my head since I found some words to a hymn in my Quilting the Psalms group. I'm studying the Psalms but not trying to do the blocksyet. I'll do them when I finish the Women of the Bible. Our leader, Carol Honderich, is designing

a new applique pattern for each of the Psalms that we are studying and they are spectacular, I can't wait to start making them. Well, I guess I can wait, I can hardly keep up as it is at this time.

Monday, March 26, 2007

At the hospital again today, and Mom is much better, even able to eat soft solid food. A woman doctor had come to check her Saturday, and couldn't understand why they hadn't already had her swallow a tiny camera to see what was going on in her stomach. She said it was the first thing they should have done. I concur heartily!!! They did it yesterday afternoon and discovered 2 large ulcers, one bleeding. That accounted for the blood in her stool specimen. She's on a new diet with new meds and will probably be released tomorrow. She will be in a care center in her hometown for a while for nursing care and physical therapy until she gains enough strength to care for herself and go home. Hooray!

My brother, Steve, from Reno will be coming later this week. It will be good to see him and I know Mom and Dad are thrilled. To celebrate I've included more of his photos:

Now that Mom is doing better and will be receiving the care she needs, I'll be able to take my planned trip to see my youngest daughter in SLC next week. Mandy and Amber will be going with me for Spring Break. I hope to see some pretty quilts while I'm there.

I was also able to work on cleaning up the garden all yesterday afternoon in the nice warm weather. Then last night I actually got most of my late March 12 x 12 piece assembled. A couple more pieces and I can begin the machine quilting and embellishment. Should be able to post it before I leave on Saturday. It feels good to work on something quilty again.

The final good news is that we had a slow gently rain most of Saturday and now it is to be quite warm all week, so things should be sprouting and greening up quickly. For all the snow we had this winter it has been an unusually dry March until now. March is usually our wettest month, usually in the form of upslope snow that melts off the next day. But I prefer the rain. When shopping this evening, after getting back from visiting Mom, it was quite cloudy and looked and felt like Spring rainclouds.

Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers. It helps so much and I'm thankful for all my good quilting friends, wherever you are.

It was wrapped in a beautiful gift bag and is such a lovely quilt. The pattern and piecing are so well done and Deb G.'s feather quilting is perfect to set off the plain squares and borders.

Now that I have both quilts, Crystal's mom can set up a time for a presentation to the two women. The local newspaper wants to take photos and do a story.

We're also going to find out if they know any other women at Fort Carson who have been wounded and haven't received a quilt yet. Since we have 30 quilts promised for the women, Debra says we might as well give some to women that we know of personally.

Thanks for your warm wishes and prayers for Mom. The medication they are dripping in her is helping her to be much more comfortable and they are beginning tests to determine what is causing her to be unable to retain food or water. We were also able to talk to the Discharge Planner about what needs to be done for her and Dad when he is released. This sure relieves me and takes a lot of the load off my back.

I was feeling so beat down last night and then this morning my oldest granddaughter, Lindsey, called to tell me that she is going to have another baby, which will be our third great grandchild. That cheered me up considerably. What a gift that the miracle of life goes on in the midst of pain and struggle.

This is Lindsay, Me, Mom, Kaylee, and Michal Ann, our five generations taken last Thanksgiving.

I just noticed how much Mom now looks like Granny did before she flew away. I'd always thought she looked more like her Poppa.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

My sweet 87 year old mother was taken to the hospital emergency room today because for over a month she has had severe problems keeping food down and attendant problems. None of the tests they have done have been able to find out what is wrong. She is very weak and so thin.

I am exhausted because she is falling through the various bureaucracy cracks. Even though she was so obviously ill and unable to care for herself, and my father who will be 91 in two weeks, and is great for his age, but is getting too frail to take care of her and the house, as well as he doesn't know how to care for her in this condition, the ER doctors were going to send her home because they couldn't find out what was wrong with her and the insurance won't pay if they can't give a diagnosis. Dad offered to pay from his pocket, but they said they could not allow that. The clincher is, she can't go back into the nursing home until she has been in the hospital for three days. So they are going to send her home?!!!

Finally after the nurse and doctors conferred, (after Mom had been in the cubicle all day) and they were able to find a bed in an overflowing hospital, they decided to put her in for the night. We'll see what they decide to do for her tomorrow.

My friends, just because their tests don't give them an answer, she is obviously a seriously ill woman. This same ailment happened to her 3 years ago, and she was almost dead before they were able to discover that she had a massive infection throughout her entire gastro-intestinal system. Due to the resulting effects of malnutrition she had a blood clot and then nearly bled to death internally from the blood thinners, so she was in intensive care and then hospitalized and fed through tubes for the whole summer and then in the nursing home for several months before she could regain enough strength to return to her home. She hasn't been able to keep house since then and Dad has done the cooking and housework. Unfortunately, her long time doctor retired since then and she is now dealing with new doctors who are unfamiliar with her case and one who really shows little interest in her case.

With my health conditions, I am unable to care for her and I am getting quite concerned and more than a little bit hot under the collar about the stupidity of medical bureaucracy (this includes insurance companies and Medicare regulations.) Even Jesus said that people were not made to serve the law, the law was made to serve the people.

They pay a large percentage of their monthly income for Medicare fees and supplemental insurance and this is what they get for it, after a lifetime of living decent, hardworking lives!

Thank you for giving me a place to rant. Please pray for strength and healing for Mom and Dad; for wisdom for the medical staff caring for her; and for love, patience, and serenity (not to mention a closed mouth) for me.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Joe went to Pueblo today and came home with a new HP Photosmart all-in-one printer_fax_scanner_Copier. It uses the individual color ink cartridges for better color and even has a tiny screen and photo card slots so that you can upload your digital photos and save, print, or send them without even using the computer, if you choose to. It has express and a premier photo management software which with just a preview looks to me like it will do a lot of things I wanted to do in the past and didn't have the capability. I'll know more after I have a chance to play with it a while. I've already printed onto photo paper and cotton fabric sheets and the color is so much more brilliant. Hooray! In the past I was trying to do photo jobs on a document printer, basically.

From what we could find out, HP inkjet printers seem to be about the best you can get and the salesman told Joe that, for the money, he couldn't find a better all-in-one than this model. Joe bought the extended warranty and told the guy if this printer goes out before the two year extended warranty period is over, he will come looking for him with a club. He didn't seem too worried about that.

We found out that a few guys will work on these printers for at least $80 an hour and the cost of parts, so it is cheaper to buy a new one and this way we know it will work for a while. Since Joe is a trained repair man, and is good at taking things apart and getting them back together so they work, he is going to see if he can figure out how to fix the old one, just for the learning experience. He figures he has nothing to loss and may learn something helpful and may even fix it so we have an emergency backup, if needed. There's nothing he likes better than tearing into something different and figuring it out. Did I luck out, or not, when I met this guy all those years ago at a country and western dance class?

My brother sent me some more unbelievable photos and I want to share them with you. He is going to make me a professional 10 x 17 print of the Grand Canyon photo to hang on my wall. It was my choice of all his photos I've seen. Our cousin, Zack, is trying to talk him into moving to the gulf coast of Florida so they can set up a studio and shop to sell Steve's photography and photo tiles. He can't stand the the thought of living away from the mountains of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona so he's not sure if he wants to go down there.

Monday, March 19, 2007

I found I needed to print a few more sunflowers on cotton fabric sheets for my March 12 x 12 piece today, and guess what? My HP Officejet all-in-one broke today. It kept telling me it had a paper jam, but I couldn't find a jam when I checked it out. When Joe came home he looked at it and found no paper inside but lots of black ink powder. Evidently the ink cartridge jammed somehow, and dumped the ink and now he can't get to the ink cartridge to get it out. He's going to check tomorrow and see if it can be repaired at a reasonable cost, but he doubts it.

This is the third HP Officejet all-in-one we've had go bad on us in 5 years. The first, a G85, died before the warranty was out and they replaced it immediately. The replacement lasted a little over 2 years and the printer broke on it. It would cost as much to repair as to buy a new one so we bought the current 7200 a year and 3 months ago. It managed to last just beyond the warranty before it broke. It has been the printer portion that broke in all of them. I admit, we do lots of printing for the business, my photos on fabric, quilt patterns, and my genealogy research and books; but they are rather expensive to replace every year. I'd like to find one that is not a disposable use and toss variety.

What kind of luck have any of you had with your HP inkjet printers? What would you recommend as a good reliable machine for us? We need one that can print, scan and fax. It takes too much room to have separate pieces for each function.

Where have you purchased your and did you get the extended warranty. If so, do you recommend the extended warranty? We haven't had very good luck with the extended warranties paying for what needs to be repaired. They tend to cover everything except what actually breaks. And since they have a lot more experience with the equipment than we do, they know what to exclude. Do I sound a little cynical?!!!

In the meantime, I'll get my 12 x 12 as far as I can without the use of a printer. We have to get this fixed or replaced quickly. Like yesterday?!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

It's still officially winter and it still looks like it with little hints here and there that the first day of Spring will soon be here.

Here is what my herb garden looked like before I went out today and got rid of most of the old stalks. I leave my seed stalks in the garden all winter for cover and for the birds to have seeds to eat in the snow. Then as little green shoots start showing up here and there I have a major cleanup job that needs to be done quickly. Especially as the Farmers Almanac tells me I can start putting in my peas, lettuce, and spinach seeds after March 18 (the light of the moon).

I'm not sure why the above ground crops are planted in the light of the moon and the under ground crops in the dark of the moon, but Granny and Poppa did it that way, and their folks, and their folks, ad infinitum, so who am I to do it differently? They were a lot smarter about those kinds of things than I ever will be. They planted to feed themselves and their families, I plant to enjoy, and eat as a side benefit. If I didn't plant I could buy the produce at the grocery store; except for tomatoes, I can hardly force myself to eat most of the hard, tasteless, pale pink things that grew in California (or Peru, given the season) and were picked green and developed to be hard so they won't be squishy by the time they get to market.

Joe found one lone little white Snowdrop blooming by the corner of the house, so I got a photo of it. I don't find any sign of the Scillas or daffodils, which I planted on the north side of the house, so they come up and bloom late. I need to stick some bulbs in where the early Spring sun can find them, this Fall.

In Canon City today we found a small Magnolia tree blooming. This is the only one anywhere around, and it is in front of a brick real estate office building, on the south side where it gets protection and sun. I keep telling people that we live in the Banana Belt of Colorado and here is the proof. I wonder if I could convince one to grow and bloom here? Of course, what I really covet is a Pomegranate tree, but....

On the way home we got this photo of a tiny Brahma calf with his mother in the corral of one of our local small gentleman's ranches. Isn't he adorable with those big ears? We also saw several little black calves cavorting around their mothers in a pasture on another ranch, but couldn't get photos of them. Around here calves tend to be born in late winter, so playing calves are another sign that Spring is coming. Please click on the photo to see how cute he is, slightly larger.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I am so far behind!!!! I can clean house, or quilt, or walk but I can't seem to do them all in the same time period. If I do one I can't find time or energy to do the others. In addition, trying to keep up with my friends blogs, struggle with changing e-mail addresses to the whole world (it doesn't seem like an exageration), and trying to figure out why my e-mail insists on going out on the old server when I send it through the new hi speed server is making me gaga! The more Joe fiddles with the settings the more messed up it all becomes. Where is my computer guru when I need him or her?!!! And I can't even soothe the savage beast by scarfing down chocolate! Aarrggggg!!!!!

Now that I've gotten that howl out of my system here is what is in progress. I finally finished the kids quilt top for the 40 Quilts Service Project; I'll press it and mail it to Deb G. for quilting tomorrow. Here is a photo of it spread out on top of the backing fabric to make sure that the backing is big enough. I really like the looks of this pattern with this fabric. Beth, thanks for sending me this cute striped fabric. There was even enough to make the entire backing in three pieces, and the piecing doesn't show much because of the stripes. This is the largest quilt top I've ever done; up till now I've only done crib size quilts and the small journal quilts.

In the background of this photo on the cutting table are pieces and parts for my March 12 x 12 which is due tomorrow but is most probably going to be revealed later this week. I picked up some yummy Razzle Dazzle thread from Ricky Timms at the Creative Cloth Closet in Canon City and owner, Denise, showed me how she embellishes her pieces by machine couching this thread with invisible thread. It will take me a while to practice this and then do it on the March piece.

The house cleaning I've been trying to do in the midst of all this is get the clutter out of the office, where Joe and I run our business and I do my internet surfing and blogging and photo printing on fabric, etc. We haven't been able to get to the closet at the back since January because the space is full of storage files in bankers boxes. Sunday Joe decided that we could get some plastic boxes for the storage files and then he can store them in an outside storage shed, safe from the mice that got into my Christmas decorations and other goodies. I don't know why I never thought of this myself since I use plastic storage boxes for my fabrics, paints, stamps and ink pads, beads, etc. We found some cheap boxes, just the right size, at Wal Mart and I am in the process of transferring the files from cardboard and file cabinet to plastic. Here is a photo of some of them in the hallway next to the kitty condo and toys.

The weather is so gorgeous, in the 70s for the last several days, and as I walked past the fallow garden on the way to my daily walk, it was all I could do to keep from stopping and cleaning up the old brown stalks and debris, but I had steps to go before I could garden. After getting my breathe when I got back I forced myself to go to the sewing machine and finish attaching those last borders and getting the backing ready so it could go out tomorrow. I've got to get some work done in the garden before St. Pat's because that is when the peas, potatoes, lettuces, spinach, and radishes need to be planted.

Then Mandy, Amber and I plan to drive to Salt Lake City to visit daughter, Shay and grandkids, Samantha, Rachel and Evan during Spring Break. We try to go to SLC every year over Spring Break, but usually daughter, Kat, goes with me, also, but this year she doesn't feel like riding in a car with an active 4 year old boy, Evan, for that many hours. So Amber will go to keep Mandy in line, heehee, and I plan to take the girls to visit the campus at Utah University so they can start to get an idea of what to expect when they get out of high school. Hopefully, I'll get to visit some quilt exhibits while there since Utah women are known for being great quilters.

Here's a great photo of Mandy's brothers, Evan (4) and Ben (17) on a walk along Bijou Creek near Byers that son, Greg sent yesterday. Ben is often known to hide his face from cameras, so this is a special occassion. They sure look alike, don't they? Notice that the grass and trees show no signs of Spring yet on the Colorado prairie.

Monday, March 12, 2007

The postman brought me a package today from Debra S.; it contained coordinated fabrics from her stash for me to use in making a QOV quilt for a wounded military woman as part of the Quilt Studio 40 Quilts Service Project for the second quarter of this year.

The fabrics are gorgeous, the colors complement each other so well, and I can't wait to see how they make up. I am going to use a free pattern that I downloaded from Hancock Fabrics website that has Eight Pointed or Evening Star blocks as part of the design.

While reading the Pueblo Chieftain this morning I was excited to find an article about Alex Anderson and Ricky Timms filming for their new webcast quilt show at Ricky's Quilt Studio and Gallery in La Veta, Colorado, which is just a short mountain road away from where we live. Ricky sure knows how to find a gorgeous place to live and base his quilt business. La Veta has always been one of my favorite spots.

When I read about the early bird special on membership to their site, I got on line and signed up. Got my Star Membership for $16.95; it will be $24.95 per year after the first show airs April 2. Click on my copy of the article so you can read all the details. They are even going to have a virtual quilt gallery to enable members to share their work with other quilters.

Alex has some interesting observations about the reason HGTV dropped her show. Whatever, their reasoning, it doesn't make it with me, I'm so disappointed in a lot of their new shows and miss my old favorites.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Sorry, due to doctor appointments and lab visits I did not get to post on Wednesday. I am finishing the border on the Solar System Strippy Ninepatch kid quilt for the 40 Quilt Service Project on Quilt Studio. I will probably be able to post the finished quilt top photo tomorrow and get it off to Debra G. for quilting. I continue to work on my March 12 x 12 but won't post any more about it until the reveal the week of the 12th. I'm also expecting a package of stash fabrics from Debra S. to make another service quilt, this time it will be for a military woman who has been injured.

I am two weeks behind on my WOTB blocks but will get those done when the kid quilt is in the mail and before I start the woman's quilt. I've also organized fabrics and patterns to start making blocks for my son's airplane quilt. I figure if I only make a block every two weeks, at least I'll have it started. I am not good at just working on one project at a time or production quilting. I find if I look at a quilt as one block at a time and switch back and forth I can deal with it; trying to think about sitting down and doing a whole quilt just overwhelms me.

The major work in progress in my life right now is me. I am working at improving my health and fitness through diet, exercise, and spiritual discipline, with the help of my friends at the Quilter's Lounge. I used to be active in walking, mountain hiking and a little cross country skiing, but when my health went down hill and I had to retire in 1997, I wasn't able to do these activities any longer and let myself begin to think and act like a semi-invalid. All or nothing thinking; if I can't do it all, I can't do anything. In 2005 at the urging my my primary doctor, I started exercising at Curves and shed 35 pounds. Once again, a few health set backs led to me giving up and gaining back about 20 of those pounds.

This time I realize that I am in this for life, it can not be a temporary change in lifestyle. I am attempting to deal with the emotional and spiritual issues that caused to let myself get in such a sad state. I think this realization stems from getting involved with my quilting friends online and finding a whole new world of creativity opening up for me at a rather mature age. "Too soon old, too late smart!" But, luckily, we live in a universe that allows us second chances any time we choose to take them.

So, I am walking again, after all this time of thinking I couldn't because of arthritic feet and the need for oxygen 24/7. When I started using a pedometer to measure my steps about a month ago, I was only walking less than 1000 steps a day around the house. Due to snow, ice and cold, I began doing my walking at the Canon City WalMart, the closest thing we have to a mall. I was able to up my steps to around 3000 on the days I got there to walk. Now that the weather is nice and warm I am strapping Ursula Oxygen around my waist like a fanny pack, and walking around the neighborhood, using a walking stick to keep my balance.

Yesterday, it was so gorgeous that after my appointments and shopping, I went to Centennial Park, along the Arkansas River in Canon City, and walked around the perimeter of the park. I enjoyed the sounds of the river, watching lots of Little Leaguers practice, and admiring the ducks and geese at the pond being fed by some cute kids and their parents. After my pleasant walk, I got my camera and walked around some more taking photos. A photo from this park, taken a few weeks ago, is featured in my March 12 x 12.

I used to walk all over this town, but since moving here 4 years ago, I have only managed to walk around my block a few times, and hadn't walked downtown. I didn't think I could. This evening, I decided to see if I could make it, so I walked 9 blocks down Second Street to Santa Fe Avenue, south a block to Main Street, (the intersection where I used to live in an apartment over Joe's shop, overlooking the main downtown block of Main Street), and then walked 9 blocks home. I stopped a couple of times to admire certain views, and visited with a friend, and then halfway home, I stopped and sat a few minutes on a bench next to an ornamental pond in the yard of a historic home that is now a funeral home owned by some friends of ours. Too bad I didn't have the camera with me; I'll go back when the flowers are in bloom and get some good shots. By the time I got home I was staggering some and very happy to have the walking stick. But I felt so good to realize that I can walk around town again. Just because I have some stiffnes and a few aches and pains and an oxygen tether doesn't mean I have to be an invalid.

I wore my new microstretch Keds that were just delivered today, and my feet did hurt a little, but not enough to keep me down. I love these Keds. I had some a couple of years ago and wore them until they fell off but couldn't find anymore. I got on the internet the other day and found some and paid for quick delivery. These are the greatest shoes for people with sore feet! Next, I'm going to start walking again on the Riverwalk between Florence and Canon City where I used to walk every day 20 to 15 years ago. And guess what? I took 5154 steps today! Can 10,000 be that far away?

Sunday, March 4, 2007

I'm not sure how I managed to get the previous post on here twice. I guess hi speed internet access is so fast it doubles itself in the same time as dial up thinks about doing it.

While in the process of rearranging books on the new shelves, I found my old book "Crewel Embroidery" by Erica Wilson from the 70's. Since I signed up for Sharon B's Take A Stitch Tuesdays and discovered I couldn't work with a

regular embroidery needle any longer, I've decided that I will have to do my embellishment with wool yarn and crewel needles, which a slightly larger. This made me remember that at the time I started doing needlepoint, in the early 70's when I was first diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the doctors recommended some kind of needlework to keep my hands from getting too rigid, I had tried some crewel embroidery. I decided I enjoyed the needlepoint more so didn't continue with the crewel.

So, I started digging in my needlepoint storage drawers, and in the very bottom, scrunched up in it's plastic bag, I found my Jacobean style crewel embroidery piece. I don't know why I never did anything with it, it is rather nice looking, if I say so myself. I also found another kit which I had never done stitching on, although the linen was still stretched on a hoop. I soaked the poor grubby stitched piece in cold water with a little gentle wash in it overnight then laid it out to dry and pressed in on the wrong side, face down on a towel so that the stitching would not be flattened, and now plan to get a canvas stretcher to stretch it on, and hang it somewhere. I don't want to turn it into the pillow which it was originally supposed to be, because the two cats, not to mention grandchildren, tend to be hard on pillows.

I also got a good idea from the book of the type of sampler I will begin to do for TAST. I've done it in the past, I can do it again.

The mailwoman brought me a squishy this morning. I have subscribed to a Flower of the

Month fabric program from My Quilting Friends, and the flowers for April are daffodils, aren't they gorgeous? I already have the January Carnations, and the February Violets. Now I'm trying to figure out a great quilt to make with them. Something wild and splashy, because these are fantastic flowers. The fabrics are made by Northcott. It's all right for me to be buying fabrics because I haven't quilted long enough to build much of a stash. It's enough that I have to be on a food diet without having to go on a fabric diet at the same time. A fabric addiction will not be detrimental to my health, wealth maybe, but not health. Can fabrics take the place of junk food?

The first comprehensive survey of its type ever mounted in America, this exhibition explores the diverse and innovative work of Barcelona's artists, architects, and designers in the years between the Barcelona Universal Exposition of 1888 and the imposition of the Fascist regime of Francisco Franco in 1939. The exhibition features some 300 works, including paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, posters, decorative objects, furniture, architectural models, and designs. Barcelona and Modernity offers new insights into the art movements that advanced the city's quest for modernity and confirmed it as the primary center of radical intellectual, political, and cultural activities in Spain.Accompanied by a catalogue. The exhibition is made possible by the Caixa Catalunya. Obra Social and the Generalitat de Catalunya.Additional support is provided by Angelo, Gordon & Co.The exhibition is also made possible in part by Jane and Robert Carroll and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.It was organized by The Cleveland Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in association with Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona. "

Since in Art School at CU Boulder over 30 years ago, I have adored the architecture of Gaudi.

Speaking of Modernity, have any of you seen the intro art on the "Ghost Whisperer" on CBSTV? It's the best part of the whole show!

The first comprehensive survey of its type ever mounted in America, this exhibition explores the diverse and innovative work of Barcelona's artists, architects, and designers in the years between the Barcelona Universal Exposition of 1888 and the imposition of the Fascist regime of Francisco Franco in 1939. The exhibition features some 300 works, including paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, posters, decorative objects, furniture, architectural models, and designs. Barcelona and Modernity offers new insights into the art movements that advanced the city's quest for modernity and confirmed it as the primary center of radical intellectual, political, and cultural activities in Spain.Accompanied by a catalogue. The exhibition is made possible by the Caixa Catalunya. Obra Social and the Generalitat de Catalunya.Additional support is provided by Angelo, Gordon & Co.The exhibition is also made possible in part by Jane and Robert Carroll and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.It was organized by The Cleveland Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in association with Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona. "

Since in Art School at CU Boulder over 30 years ago, I have adored the architecture of Gaudi.

Speaking of Modernity, have any of you seen the intro art on the "Ghost Whisperer" on CBSTV? It's the best part of the whole show!

In WIP Wednesday, last week, one of my projects was adding a new 4 shelf unit to the bookcases in my bedroom/quilt studio. It didn't take me nearly as long as I expected to assemble the basic shelf unit (see photo). Tee hee! Since this unit had to go beneath the existing 3 shelf unit, the major time and effort went into moving all the books and needlepoint yarn drawers from the affected sections, restacking the units (I had male help with the higher units), and then replacing the books and drawers; not to mention the stuffed animals and doll.

Books are heavy, and I find it daunting to climb up and down stepladders (even short ones) these days. My oxygen tubing has been added since I painted the walls in this house, before we moved in 4 years ago. It's amazing how often that tubing gets under or around my feet, or snags on something. My monkey muscles have gone downhill, also. Since I've been falling down on flat ground recently, my daughter, Kat, told me I should wear a football helmet while doing this project. Unfortunately, I never played football and don't have a helmet. I used to have a white Strategic Air Command pilot's helmet, given to me by a former secretary who had been married to a SAC pilot, but I gave it to my pilot son to decorate his plane hangar. I also didn't have enough bubble wrap to fit me, so I did the job without safety equipment, very carefully.

I finished the job about 9:30 tonight and am I glad; sore but glad! Most of the east wall of my bedroom/studio is now floor to ceiling bookcases and I have a convenient place for all the quiltmaking related books I've purchased the last couple of years. Four additional 2 foot shelves make a big difference.

I've always been a bookworm and my virtual house has walls and walls of bookcases, the walls that aren't bookcases are floor to ceiling glass in the form of windows and french doors onto decks and courtyard gardens. Well, there have to be a few walls for hanging stuff, such as art, collectibles and quilts. My virtual house is in a virtual world where the weather is always just right for indoor/outdoor living. I think my virtual house is probably located where there are streets of gold. I'm also thinking of adding a hot tub and a live-in masseuse to my virtual house plans.